"Man, the sights went by so fast," he says. "I was thinking, like, I'm going to have this moment of serenity, take in all the sights.

"There's a lot of pretty stuff, but they're pretty in a different context."

'Rich' circled the plane before crash landing on a small island

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

The 29-year-old - who died in the crash, according to officials - made it clear he did not want anyone else to be hurt.

He apologised to his family and admitted "there are a lot of people who care about me".

'Rich' appeared to attempt loops and barrel rolls before crash landing on Ketorn Island in south Puget Sound - a small island with about two dozen residents just outside Seattle.

The Peirce Country Sheriff's office confirmed the "rogue" pilot was a 29-year-old mechanic who had little knowledge of flying.

It is unclear how the mechanic was able to stage a take off without authorisation (Image: KIRO 7)

The Pierce County Sheriff said the man was "doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island".

No passengers were on board and normal operations have resumed at the airfield, the airport said.

Constance von Muehlen, chief operating officer of Horizon Air, a sister carrier of Alaska Airlines, said at about 8pm an employee of the airline took off with a Q400 twin-engine turboprop airplane.

It is unclear how the employee was able to taxi the plane on a runway and take off without authorisation.

Video footage on social media showed a large plane flying above the Seattle area with an F-15 following it.

"Okay this insane. A pilot on the plane in front of us just went rogue and took off on an empty plane bypassing orders from the tower," tweeted Ben Schaechter, a passenger on a plane waiting to take off before the incident.

Fire crews were working on putting out the fire from the crash.

Ketron Island is a sparsely populated island 25 miles (40 km) southwest of the airport.

The Bombardier Q400 turboprop airplane is designed for shorter-distance flights and can seat 76 passengers, Alaska Air said on its website.

If you need to speak to someone, Samaritans are available 24/7 by calling 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org